tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56668399780610909632016-12-09T08:24:39.182-06:00it's all one thingWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.comBlogger2993125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-15628820972599148412016-12-06T12:52:00.000-06:002016-12-06T12:52:28.360-06:00God save us from people who think they're the fire brigade
Winston Churchill said, "I decline utterly to be impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire." It sounds like a good line out of context. In context, it tells you a great deal about how awful Churchill was. He meant that the desperate miners who took part in the General Strike of 1926 were the fire, and he was the fire brigade.
Context: 1926 United Kingdom general strike - Wikipedia: "OnWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-29207703336180252742016-12-05T17:32:00.000-06:002016-12-05T17:32:20.166-06:00One reason why assholes love capitalism
I left a comment at Ask Me Your Dumb Questions About Socialism that Jon Carey "re-posted for truth", so I thought I'd post it here too:
Critics of socialism love to talk about their concept of human nature, which tends to bore socialists, mostly because capitalists’ assumptions about human nature are like feudalists’ concepts: self-serving.
But I do think there’s one interesting element. UnderWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-75337917432183568422016-12-03T17:59:00.000-06:002016-12-04T08:04:30.099-06:00The alt-center, censorship, and the weaponizing of poverty: a scattershot note
1
If your response to a Twitter tiff is to go running to someone's employer, you view poverty as a weapon and are a terrible person.
— Emily Robinson29🎅🏻 (@See_Em_Play) November 26, 2016
I love this quote. I have seen too many examples of people online trying to silence their opponents with financial threats instead of simply refuting them.
Perhaps the best thing I can point to about Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-20950052377596870442016-11-28T21:47:00.001-06:002016-11-28T21:47:56.423-06:00Liavek 7! Now available! Longest collection yet, only $3.99!
Contains five stories:
"Portrait of Vengeance" by Kara Dalkey"The Skin and Knife Game" by Lee Barwood and Charles de Lint"Strings Attached" by Nathan A. Bucklin"The Tale of the Stuffed Levar" by Jane Yolen"An Act of Love" by Steven Brust, Gregory Frost, and Megan Lindholm
And a poem:
"Spells of Binding" by Pamela Dean
Originally published in 1987 in Spells of Binding. For more informationWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-47974163269012426192016-11-27T14:36:00.002-06:002016-11-27T14:37:59.111-06:00A good discussion with Hal Duncan about identity politics and queer folk
I replied to Notes from New Sodom: On Identity Politics. Currently, we're up to 27 comments. We might be done now, but I thought that a little over halfway through.
Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-51463608545647677352016-11-24T23:00:00.000-06:002016-11-25T06:55:02.617-06:00No, identity politics is not civil rights
I left this comment at Stop Calling It Identity Politics — Its Civil Rights:
It’s sad that you’ve appropriated King to argue that identitarianism is civil rights. Two things he said may illustrate the problem:
“In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact stands out: there are twice as many white poor as Negro poor in the United States. Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-66609230441830449992016-11-16T19:18:00.003-06:002016-11-16T19:22:12.748-06:00Why leftists criticize the extremely profitable Southern Poverty Law Center
Two organizations are being promoted by those of us who want to fight Trump. I've always loved the first, the ACLU.
But I've had doubts about the Southern Poverty Law Center since I learned about their profiteering ways in the '90s. Wikipedia has a little on the controversy over its finances.
In 2010, I learned how very white its ten highest-paid executives were: SPLC — “Whites Only” 2010 « Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-15477916223846008182016-11-15T20:38:00.001-06:002016-11-15T20:38:36.393-06:00A few thoughts about how to protestWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-58490013148427764172016-11-14T01:43:00.001-06:002016-11-28T21:52:17.852-06:00Why am I surprised that Cory Doctorow, Laurie Penny, and Patrick Neilsen Hayden are demonizing the working class?
I just saw People who voted for Trump knew their shot at the elites was fired through the guts of their neighbors / Boing Boing. Cory Doctorow approves of Laurie Penny's elitist sentiment in a post that he found thanks to Patrick Nielsen Hayden.
I suppose I'm disappointed because I thought they were too smart to believe the reason the Rust Belt voted for a black president in 2008 and 2012, and Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-44442035491013678602016-11-11T16:23:00.000-06:002016-11-17T13:12:52.092-06:00understanding the election—the best links I've found
Among Republicans, Trump supporters have slightly lower incomes. But what really differentiates them?
Debunking myths about Trump voters, with exit polls.: "Trump’s Voters Don’t Support Deportation. And other surprises."
Trump did surprisingly well among groups he was thought to have fatally offended. He got 8 percent of blacks (Mitt Romney got only 6 percent in 2012), 29 percent of Latinos (Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-42805525297806763722016-11-11T12:22:00.001-06:002016-11-12T10:31:58.086-06:00A reminder for Clinton fans that the polls were right all along
From a post I wrote shortly before the election:
This would've been a boring election if the Democratic establishment hadn't been committed to nominating another neoliberal. In May, Sanders was polling with the general public at 10 points over Trump.
That wasn't a fluke. In the many polls of public opinion taken from July 2015 to May 2016, only six showed Trump having an advantage and only oneWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-21940238386086104442016-11-10T18:19:00.001-06:002016-11-10T18:19:54.217-06:00Alan Moore's joke behind naming the Marvel Universe the 616 universe
Some people believe the Number of the Beast is 616. See Number of the Beast - Wikipedia: "The Number of the Beast (Greek: Ἀριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου, Arithmos tou Thēriou) is a term in the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, that is associated with the Beast of Revelation in chapter 13.[1] In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of the beast isWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-19883057927163644692016-11-10T11:54:00.000-06:002016-11-10T11:54:15.425-06:00Thoughts after learning a fan killed herself because she feared she would lose her health care
I just found out that a fan of our work killed herself yesterday. She had depression and she was concerned about her health care.
I will take a moment before I continue.
Emma and I are concerned about our health care. She has type 1 diabetes. I hate to think what would happen if we lost our health care through the state of Minnesota.
But while there are many reasons to be worried about Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-24966105608848535442016-11-10T07:41:00.000-06:002016-11-10T07:41:35.272-06:00In defense of "agreeing to disagree"
I just saw someone on Facebook say he didn't like the phrase and thought it was used by people who could not defend their position. I'm a great fan of the phrase. I use it when I choose to be merciful, which is more often than my readers may realize. I would prefer to have brambles in my view than scorched earth.
One meaning of the phrase is "you are not worth my time."
But the more common Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-40721686544007448812016-11-09T09:40:00.000-06:002016-11-09T12:24:37.472-06:00Essential data for analyzing the 2016 election
CBS News Exit Polls: How Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency - CBS News:
Exit poll voters were asked whether most illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be offered a chance to apply for legal status or deported to the country they came from. Fully 7 of 10 voters said they should be allowed to apply for legal status. Similarly, more people opposed building a wall along the U.S. border Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-11210843119875074662016-11-09T02:07:00.000-06:002016-11-09T17:34:41.949-06:00A quick reminder for gay and trans folks that most Americans are still on your side
Americans Want Legal Protections For Transgender People, Poll Says - The Atlantic:
A poll released today by the Public Religion Research Institute found 72 percent of Americans now favor passing laws to protect lesbian, gay and transgender people from discrimination, including three-quarters of Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans. A majority of Americans also oppose so-called “bathroom Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-28181984674902484832016-11-08T13:30:00.000-06:002016-11-08T13:30:02.259-06:00Two versions of "Here in This Land" by Karl Kraus
On Facebook, John Michael Colón shared this translation of Karl Karus's "Here in This Land":
Here in this land no one is deemed absurd
but who should speak the truth. And all defenseless
he stands before the sneering, grinning herd,
which holds a sense of honor senseless.
Here in this land, where God is bought and sold
and manhood is pursued with execration,
all infamy is coined to purest goldWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-20630304757935515782016-11-08T12:47:00.005-06:002016-11-08T13:00:21.670-06:00Why I Vote—and Who I Voted For
Not voting is acquiescence—the only way to protest is to register your choice.
As a third-party voter in a blue state, I didn't have to decide whether I should support a lesser evil, but I was still torn. I worked with Dan Vacek when I ran for governor with the Grassroots Party and I liked him, but of the parties that were sufficiently organized to get on the ballot, the Green's platform isWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-71801599106363415722016-11-07T22:27:00.000-06:002016-11-07T23:23:23.165-06:00Antiracism campaigns: Twenty years of making racism worse
Studies over twenty years come to the same conclusion: Antiracism fails because it reduces complex problems to race, which strengthens the idea that race matters enormously.
I've quoted this one before. In 1997, a government study in Australia found,
The problem with anti-racism campaigns is that there is no clearly understood or agreed method of changing people's prejudices, values, Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-59109531970166380982016-11-06T13:22:00.000-06:002016-11-11T10:08:01.763-06:00Why Clinton supporters should be happy even if she loses
Q. Why should Clinton fans be happy even if she loses on Tuesday?
A. Because they'll get their second choice: a democratic socialist won't be president.
This would've been a boring election if the Democratic establishment hadn't been committed to nominating another neoliberal. In May, Sanders was polling with the general public at 10 points over Trump.
That wasn't a fluke. In the many polls Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-51190214746335665192016-11-05T10:04:00.000-05:002016-11-05T19:15:47.592-05:00Dr. Strange mini-review, no spoilers
The boy in me is happy: his two favorite comic book characters have had good movies made about them. I say "comic book characters" instead of superheroes because unlike Captain America, Dr. Strange isn't a super hero; he comes from the pulp tradition of the mystic guardian. The movie gets that well enough that the few mentions of other characters from the Marvel universe threw me a little; Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-82635993590858211522016-10-28T11:38:00.001-05:002016-10-28T11:49:21.810-05:00Hypocrites, or Hissyfit Jesus versus Vulcan Jesus
I was talking online with a Christian who believes in Tough Love Jesus, which left me thinking about the Biblical Jesus calling people hypocrites. If you believe the word is an insult, it doesn't belong in the mouth of a teacher who said the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people.
That got me thinking about Hissyfit Jesus, the Jesus many Christians believe in, the furious man Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-20884142405951649732016-10-26T19:04:00.003-05:002016-10-26T19:05:25.789-05:00Eleanor Marx explains why sometimes socialists should support liberals
From Eleanor Marx: Working Women vs. Bourgeois Feminism (italics mine):
There is no doubt that there is a women’s question. But for us – who gain the right to be counted among the working class either by birth or by working for the workers’ cause – this issue belongs to the general working-class movement. We can understand, sympathise, and also help if need be, when women of the upper or middleWill Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-22559961125147123332016-10-26T13:34:00.003-05:002016-10-26T13:34:25.824-05:00Emma's observation about Jesus and tough love
Emma: What are you thinking about?
Me: I was just in a discussion with a conservative who thinks Jesus was about tough love.
Emma: Yeah, if you were a money-changer.
Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666839978061090963.post-29274956703473925382016-10-22T03:53:00.001-05:002016-10-27T17:01:33.069-05:00Peasant or Whatever Diet, Day 4: Lost 3 pounds
Because our scale isn't the most precise, I'm not sure if I lost four pounds or two and a half, so I'm calling it three.
When I was in seventh grade, I decided I wanted to lose weight. I did it partly by having a growth spurt and partly by eating my usual sandwiches with one slice of bread instead of two and bicycling to school instead of taking the bus. Sadly, I can't count on a growth spurt Will Shetterlyhttps://plus.google.com/117837852833748735044noreply@blogger.com0